CHAPTER VI.

LIFE IN HANOVER—_continued_.

[Sidenote: 1826. _To J. F. W. Herschel._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Feb. 1, 1826._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

On the 17th January I received by the same post your letters of December 30th and January 9th. I should have answered your precious communication of December 30th immediately if I was not in hopes of receiving daily an answer to what I sent on the 28th December. I cannot express my thanks sufficiently to you for thinking me worthy of forming any judgment of your astronomical proceedings, and am only sorry that I cannot recall the health, eyesight, and _vigor_ I was blessed with twenty or thirty years ago; for nothing else is wanting (and that is all) for my coming by the first steamboat to offer you the same assistance (when sweeping) as, by your father’s instructions, I had been enabled to afford him. For an observer at your twenty-foot when sweeping wants nothing but a being that _can_ and _will_ execute his commands with the quickness of lightning [!], for you will have seen that in many sweeps six or twice six, &c., objects have been secured and described within the space of one minute of time.

I cannot think that any catalogue but the MS. one in zones (which was only intended for your own use) would facilitate the reviewing of the Nebulæ, and _you_ are the only one to whom 1885, viz., 2nd and 3rd class, out of the 2500, can be visible in your twenty-foot. Wollaston, who knew this, has given in his Catalogue only 1st and 4th, &c. classes of the first 1000, the second not having been published at that time, and they are without the yearly variation.

Bode has given the first and second Catalogues complete, and calculated the yearly variation to each by de Lambre’s Tables. (See Bode’s preface, p. iv., line 18.) The last 500 were not published yet in 1800, or rather 1801. I only mention this that if you wanted the variations, and had a mind to trust to that catalogue of errors, it would save an immense trouble by copying them. But the more I think of these, the more I doubt if it would not be injuring the places of objects merely (though accurately) pointed out, to calculate them in the same manner as stars repeatedly observed in fixed instruments; and I doubt if your father noticed Bode’s having done so.

You will find undoubtedly many more nebulæ which may have been overlooked for want of time, flying clouds, haziness, &c., especially in those sweeps which are registered _half sweep_. It is a pity time could not be found for making, as was often intended, a register in which the boundaries of the sweeps, with the nebulæ, were all brought to one time, either to Flamsteed’s or 1790 or 1800. The register in Flamsteed’s time, which is from 45° to 129°, is for that reason the best mem. At the time that register was made, the apparatus for sweeping in the zenith was not completed, and higher than 45° was not used.

If you should wish in the latter part of the summers (when your father was generally from home) to fill up the unswept part of the heavens, you might perhaps discover as many objects as would produce a pretty numerous catalogue. You will see in the register of Flamsteed’s time a curved line which denotes that the Milky Way is in those places, and if you see an _L_ and find a cluster of stars thereabout, I shall claim it as one of those I mentioned in my last letter to you. It was the assistant’s business to give notice when such marks or any nebulæ in the lapping over of the sweep either above or below were within reach, by making the workman go a few turns higher or lower. (N.B. No more than is convenient without deranging the present sweep.) But I am forgetting myself, and fear I am tiring you unnecessarily, and will only add that if your father wanted at any time to review or to show any of his planetary or other remarkable nebulæ to his friends, the time and P.D. was, by the variation of its nearest star in Wollaston’s or Bode’s catalogue, brought to the intended time of observation, and P.D.—comp. of latitude, with allowance for refraction, gave the quadrant for setting the telescope.

But after all, dear Nephew, I beg you will consider your health. Encroach not too much on the hours which should be given to sleep. I know how wretched and feverish one feels after two or three nights waking, and I fear you have been too eager at your twenty-foot, and your telling me that you have been unwell for some months, and now only begin to feel better, makes me very unhappy, and I shall not be comfortable till I see by your next that you are perfectly well again; I am quite impatient to see what you have to say about the parallax of the fixed stars, but on such occasions I am vexed that your father did not live to know of your grand discoveries. You say something of a paper on the longitude of Paris; I hope you will think of Gauss when you have anything new.

Among the letters from your father’s correspondents in alphabetical parcels you will find under the letter P. some of Pond’s, who was about the end of the last century in Lisbon, with an excellent seven-foot telescope of your father’s, and I remember that several letters passed between them about a double star in Böotes.

I am much obliged to you for the sheet of Schumacher’s _Astronom. Nachrichten_. It is highly interesting to me, and will set many a one right without offending anyone. On looking in the 2nd Catalogue of double stars, No. 104, ζ Böotes, VI. Class, November 29th, 1782, and 3rd Catalogue, No. 114, ζ Böotes, I. Class, April 5th, 1796, I cannot help thinking on the possibility that in the lapse of thirteen years and a half the small stars may have come out from behind the large one. But I beg do not laugh at me for breaking my head about these things, and I will now begin to talk about what I can comprehend.

[Sidenote: 1826. _Mr. South._]

From your mentioning Mr. South in your last letter, I fear he intends leaving England, at which I should be very sorry on your account, for if I should not live long enough to know you comfortably married, I could only console myself by your having always a Babbage, South, or Grahame to pass your social hours with. If you can meet with a _good-natured, handsome, and sensible young lady_, pray think of it, and do not wait till you are old and cross. And let me know in time that I may set hands to work to make the bridal robe; here are women who work exquisitely, and at a price within the reach of my purse.

* * * * *

P.S.—Dear Nephew, I have spent too much time in gossiping with your dear mother for saying anything besides, but I am,

Your most sincere and affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _Aug. 8, 1826_.

* * * * *

The long continuance of the great heat has had so very bad an effect on my feeble frame; and considering my advanced age, I ought not to put off the making a sort of a will, which I would set about with the greatest pleasure if I had anything to leave for which you would be the better. But I am sure you will not be disappointed, for you remember I parted with my little property before I left England (against your good advice) because I thought at that time I should not live a twelvemonth.

* * * * *

From the first moment I set foot on German ground, I found I was alone. But I could not think of separating myself from him, [her brother Dietrich] especially as his health is so very precarious, that I often think he will go before me. At this present moment he is in bed very ill, suffering from weak nerves. But the above is all by way of showing you the necessity for begging you to answer to the following questions.

[Sidenote: 1826. _Making her Will._]

My sweeper I wish to leave to Miss Beckedorff, and the picture of the Princess of Gloucester to her mother, for the two ladies have been my guardian angels for many years.

Dr. Groskopf is to have the seven-foot reflector, though I know it will only be a relic to him, but it will not be destroyed or sold for an old song. My clothing and such articles of furniture as I have been obliged to purchase, my three nieces may divide themselves in. Your dear father’s publications in five volumes, Bode’s and Wollaston’s Catalogues (full of my memorandums), and one of my Indexes, shall be sent to you. Also a rough copy of the general Index to your father’s observations, and several articles of that sort with memorandums taken from what I have called a Day-book, which at leisure you may look over and afterwards consign to the flames, for I cannot take it in my heart to do it myself.

The observations on double stars by you and Mr. South (so handsomely bound) and the volume sent last, by South, shall I send them to you?—else I leave them to the Duke of Cambridge!—answer required.

Taylor’s tables, will they be of use to you for your godson Babbage?—else they must be only an ornament to Groskopf’s library!—answer required.

I am impatient to have your answer to this stuff, which I am almost ashamed to trouble you with.

* * * * *

My next shall be of a more agreeable subject, and I have only to say,

I am, Your most affectionate aunt, C. HERSCHEL.

FROM J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.

MONTPELLIER, _Sept. 17, 1826_.

DEAR AUNT,—

You will think me a strange gad-about, but my last, if you have got it, will have prepared you to expect a letter from either the north or south of Europe from me, in short from any country except England. I was then not decided whether to go to Norway or the south of France, but here I am at last, and having a letter-writing day before me and yours of the 8th August in my portfolio, I cannot do better than to answer it.

With regard to the dispositions you mention in your letter, and respecting which you express a wish for my opinion, they are such as it is impossible to do otherwise than approve, and such as the good sense and kindness which marks everything you do has dictated.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1826. _J. F. W. Herschel in Auvergne._]

I have been rambling over the volcanoes of Auvergne, and propose before I quit this, to visit an extinct crater which has given off two streams of lava at Agde, a town about thirty miles south of this place on the road to the Spanish frontier. Into Spain, however, I do not mean to go,—having no wish to have my throat cut. I am told, however, that a regular diligence runs between this and Madrid, and is as regularly stopped and robbed on the way.

You say you wish for an answer respecting the vol. of observations on double stars, sent by Mr. South and myself, but can I do better than leave such matters to your judgment? At the same time, as having belonged to you they could not but have a value in my eyes beyond my own copy; but pray decide yourself. I have several left.

I regret extremely to hear you feel those little (perhaps not little) inconveniences we are none of us exempt from, arising from the imperfections of human nature, both in ourselves and those we live with. I believe the best receipt for them is endurance and a determination to show ourselves superior to them.

I have my rubs now and then too, but I make up my mind to them as quite inevitable, and arising from causes over which I have no control. I am very sorry to hear of my uncle’s bad state of health.

I must be in England in the beginning of October, or at farthest by the 15th. So, you see, I have no time for Hanover on my way back. It is dreadfully hot here, and I am much disappointed with the place. However, I hope to get one day of intense sunshine while I remain in this latitude on account of some observations on solar radiation I have to make with a new instrument which I made before I left England, and brought with me. I carried it up the Puy de Dome, and was in hopes to have used it at the Great St. Bernard, in Switzerland, but that must now stand over for another year.

Adieu, dear aunt, and believe me—“where’er I go, whatever realms I see”—

Your affectionate nephew, J. F. W. H.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Sept. 29, 1826._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

Within this hour only I received your dear letter, dated Montpellier, Sept. 17th, which I assure you has made quite another (and what is more) a proud woman of me; for your answers to my few questions are so kindly expressive of approbation, that I shall in future not fear to follow my own opinion, which through my whole lifetime I never ventured to do before.

I am glad you did not come to Hanover, for I am sure to part from you once more would finish me before I am quite prepared for going.

The letter you mention having written me before you left England I have not received. The fault does not lie here, for the secretary here takes too much pleasure in sending me my letters.

I must hasten to get my packet away, but will only beg to let me know through Miss Baldwin as soon as you get home of your safe arrival, for I fear you must often be exposed to great dangers by creeping about in holes and corners among craters of volcanoes, but you know best, and I hope you found something....

I am, My dear nephew’s affectionate aunt, C. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Nov. 1, 1826._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

The 1st vol. of the translation of your dear father’s papers is come out. I shall have it in a few days from the bookbinder, and in February, I am told, the next volume will make its appearance. I wish you would inform me _as soon as possible_ if I shall send you a copy, that I may write for one in time to have it ready by the end of December, when the messenger leaves Hanover. It is a pity you cannot have it immediately. The plates are not with the work, but are to be had bound in a separate book (I suppose when the whole is finished).

I long to know that you are arrived safe and in good health in England again, for by your last, dated Montpellier, Sept. 17th, I see that you had then another volcanic mountain to visit, besides an observation to make on solar radiation with your new instrument; the very thought of it puts me in a fever all over—at this present moment, though we have no longer to complain of heat; so I beg you will inform me that your health has not been injured, and that you have not been totally disappointed in your researches.

I lead a very idle life, my sole employment consists in keeping myself in good humour and not be disagreeable to others.

Groskopf tells me the translation of your father’s papers causes a great sensation among the learned here in Hanover.

* * * * *

Believe me, dearest nephew, Yours, most affectionately, C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1826. _Accident at Sea._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Dec. 5, 1826._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I received your letter of the 18th November, the day before yesterday, therefore fifteen days old, which is pretty well considering the time of year. I hope this will reach you soon, for I have longed very much to give you an account of the last parcel of papers you sent, which I only deferred till I had received an account of your safe arrival in England by your own hands.

The parcel which you gave to Mr. Goltermann on the 18th August arrived here by the messenger on the 3rd November, and five days after (which it took me to dry the copies, for the messenger had met with storm and accidents at sea, and some of his boxes had been under water), viz., the 18th Nov., I sent to Göttingen, according to direction, with a note, to Gauss. And those to Bessel and Encke I enclosed with Bode’s copy, and wrote a letter to the same by way of thanks for some kind enquiries he had made after me; and now I see that fourteen days after this good man [Bode] departed this world in his eightieth year, but I have no doubt he has delivered the papers immediately, for he had no illness, and was at his last hour at his writing-table employed with writing the _Berliner Jahrbuch_ for 1830.

The copies were, after being dried, perfectly clean, no stain remaining, and that they were so long detained is not the fault of Mr. G., for the Michaelmas messenger was the first that went after the 18th Aug. In the parcel I found also the letter you wrote before leaving England, which I concluded to have been lost, but now all is safe.

_Sun and Comet._—At Hanover totally cloudy, and by what I can learn from a certain astronomical gossip, Prof. Wild, it has been so throughout all Germany, for _he_ has had no account that anything has been seen on the 18th Nov. On the 17th it is mentioned (in the _Zeitungen_, I believe) a large spot on the sun to have been observed at Frankfort, but the 18th being cloudy it could not be pursued.

In your observations with the twenty-foot you mention a Mr. Ramage as having observed with you; and in another place you speak of his twenty-five-foot reflector. Pray tell me something about this gentleman, for I never heard his name before, and if I had not been so fortunate as to have seen Babbage and South just before I left England, I should not now have the comfort to know you had so estimable friends to communicate with; and I shall rejoice to know that the number of valuable men I have known, and are no more, might be replaced by some who are worthy to be contemporary with the son of your father!

You ask, as it were, if I were satisfied with the way in which you have mentioned me in that paper? If I should answer honestly I should say not quite, for you set too great a value on what I have done, and by saying too much is saying too little of my brother, for _he_ did all. I was a mere tool which _he_ had the trouble of sharpening and to adapt for the purpose he wanted it, for lack of a better. A little praise is very comfortable, and I feel confident of having deserved it for my patience and perseverance, but none for great abilities or knowledge. But of this you will perhaps be a judge, as I am now gathering from loose memorandums a little history of my life during the years from 1772 to 1788....

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1826. _Monkey Clock to count Seconds._]

You mention a monkey-clock, or jack, in your paper. I would only notice (if you mean the jack in the painted deal case) that Alex made it merely to take with me on the roof when I was sweeping for comets, that I might count seconds by it going softly downstairs till I was within hearing of the beat of the timepiece on the first floor (at that time our observatory) all doors being open. Your father never used it except when polishing the forty-foot....

In about three weeks the messenger leaves Hanover, and I will send you the first volume of the translation of your father’s papers; but I shall not order ten copies as you desired, till you give me further orders, for I do not think you will be pleased with the work, and it seems there is not much call for them. Dr. Luthmer says, Pfaff was not the man who ought to have attempted such a work, it ought to have been a Bessel.

To your dear mother and Miss B. I beg to be kindly remembered,

And remain Yours, most affectionately, C. HERSCHEL.

FROM MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Dec. 24, 1826._

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

You will with this receive the only volume of the translation (printed on _bad_ paper, _without_ the prints, &c., &c.,) which is out at present, and unless you desire me in your next to send you ten copies, I shall only take one which can serve us both.

I certainly will do as you desire, and tell you the amount, if at any time you should want some expensive publication, as our bookseller here can get by return of post from Leipsic whatever is ordered. But as to trifles, I beg you will never think about, as I should be at a loss for proving that you, my dearest nephew, are daily in my mind, when I am lavishing _sums_ on nieces and grand-nephews, and nieces who care not for me, nor I for them. But enough of this; only write me sometimes what you and your astronomical friends are doing.

I was much gratified to hear that Mr. South had received the medal. Groskopf has seen it announced in the papers, where your name was also honourably mentioned; these are the morsels for me to feed upon, for here are no astronomers but one, Dr. Luthmer, who observes Jupiter’s satellites, as you may see by the _Berliner Jahrbuch_, which I suppose you have, as usual, else I have got them from ’23 to ’29, and could send them.

I must write a line yet to your dear mother and Miss B., and will conclude with wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy New-year (as the saying is), and with loves and compliments wherever they are due, &c., &c.,

C. HERSCHEL.

P.S.—My brother is at present tolerably well, but I hardly ever knew a man of his age labouring under more infirmities, nor bearing them with less patience than he does; the rest are well enough![35]

[Sidenote: 1827. _The first Chapter of her History._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_April, 1827._

DEAREST NEPHEW!—

I have more than once asked if you would have my history, but my question has never been answered, and I am (though unwillingly) obliged to send it off without having received your permission....

Perhaps I have told you nothing but what you have known long since; but as my thoughts are continually fixed on the past, I was, as it were, conversing with you on paper, not choosing to trust them to any one about me, for I know none who would understand me, or whom it can concern, what _my own private opinion_ and remarks have always been about the transactions that continually passed before my eyes. But there can be no harm in telling my own dear nephew, that I never felt satisfied with the support your father received towards his undertakings, and far less with the ungracious manner in which it was granted. For the last sum came with a message that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how degraded I felt even for myself whenever I thought of it!) And after all it came too late, and was not sufficient; for if expenses had been out of question, there would not have been so much time and labour and expense, for twenty-four men were at times by turns day and night at work, wasted on the first mirror, which had come out too light in the casting (Alex more than once would have destroyed it secretly if I had not persuaded him against it), and without two mirrors you know such an instrument cannot be always ready for observing.

But what grieved me most was, that to the last, your poor father was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he well knew might have been removed, if it had not been attended with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to be taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard him say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such occasions), “It is impossible to make the machine act as required without a room three times as large as this.”

But when all hope for the return of vigour and strength necessary for resuming the unfinished task was gone, all cheerfulness and spirits had also forsaken him, and his temper was changed from the sweetest almost to a pettish one; and for that reason I was obliged to refrain from troubling him with any questions, though ever so necessary, for fear of irritating or fatiguing him; else there was work enough cut out for keeping me employed for several years to come, such as making correct registers of the sweeps in which all Nebulæ were to be laid down and numbered, complete Catalogues, &c. But what I most regret is, that I never could find an opportunity of consulting your father about collecting the observations made with the 40-foot into a separate book from the journals, into which they were written down among other observations made with the other instruments in the same night. I know besides that many must have been lost, being noted only either on slates or on loose papers, like those on the first discovery of the Georgian Satellites. Owing to my not being, as formerly, the last nor the first at the desk (generally retiring as soon as the mirror was covered), the memorandums were often mislaid or effaced before I had an opportunity of booking them. But I ought to remember that suchlike incomplete observations were made under unfavourable circumstances. For instance, the P. D. clock disordered by not having been used for some time; the timepiece not having been regulated, nor _every one_ of the out-door motions wanting oiling or cleaning; company being present; the night not perfectly clear; and, in general, the first night the instrument is used after it has been left at rest for some time, it cannot be expected that all should go on without interruption or ease without a good mechanical workman had spent best part of the day in looking over all the motions, in doing which your father used to find great pleasure.

But what I most lament is, that between the interval before your coming to the age of forming a proper opinion of the instrument, it had nearly fallen into decay almost in all its parts. But we have all had the grief to see how every nerve of the dear man had been unstrung by over-exertion; and that a farther attempt at leaving the work complete became impossible.

But, by the description of the forty-foot telescope given in the Philosophical Transactions, May 18, 1795, it may be seen what a noble instrument had been obtained by all the exertions described in my narrative; but from that description so briefly given there, no idea can be formed with what accuracy and nicety each part of the whole had been executed to make it an instrument fit for the most delicate observations.

P.S.—I must say a few words of apology for the good King, and ascribe the close bargains which were made between him and my brother to the _shabby, mean-spirited advisers_ who were undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead and gone, and no more of them! Sir J. Banks remained a sincere well-meaning friend to the last.

Farewell, my best Nephew!

[Sidenote: 1827. _Sir William’s Copy of Locke._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_May 8, 1827._

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

Through the friendly care of Mr. D—— I am enabled to send you the first and second volumes of Locke, the third volume, I hope, will yet be found, and I shall send it by another opportunity. I know you will prize the book when you know that it was one of your father’s earliest treasures, purchased out of his own little savings, at the age of 18 years[36]—when, along with his father and eldest brother, he was in England with the Hanoverian Guard, which you will see by the date and name, written in his own beautiful handwriting. When in 1758 he again went to England, it was under such unpleasant circumstances that he was obliged to leave it to his mother to send his trunk after him to Hamburg; and she, dear woman, knew no other wants but good linen and clothing, and your dear father’s books and self-constructed globes, &c., were left behind, and served us little ones for playthings till they were destroyed; but no more of this. You must excuse an old woman, especially such a one as your old aunt, who can only think of what is past, and is for ever forgetting the present....

* * * * *

Now, there is gone a Herr von Münighausen, who had asked the same favour, [that of being allowed to take a parcel to England] for they are all very desirous of knowing J. H., and would have called on me, and perhaps I might have had my hand kissed once more. I assure you it is no trifle here at Hanover to have one’s hand kissed, if one cannot count one’s forefathers for sixteen generations back as ennobled; but, alas! he was obliged to go at a moment’s warning; but Dr. Gr. gave him your address, and I hope you will receive him kindly.

Farewell, dear Nephew, &c., &c., C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1827. _Her Nephew’s receipt of her History._]

J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.

_Between 4th and 11th May, 1827._

MY DEAR AUNT,—

I received yesterday your packet by Mr. Goltermann, containing the ten copies of the first vol. of Pfaff’s translation of my father’s works—with _the plates_, which are really abominable. However, there is no help for it. I shall destroy those of the Nebulæ. A much more interesting part of its contents is your account of your own history, for which I cannot enough thank you, and it is really one of the most precious documents you could have sent me; every line of it affected me deeply. The point of view in which it places my father’s character is truly noble. You underrate both the value and the merit of your own services in his cause, but the world does you more justice, and his son feels them a great deal more than he knows how to express. I shall preserve this as the most precious thing, and you will add to the obligation you have conferred on me by sending the papers you refer to under the title of No. I.

The Journals and the _mettwursts_ also came safely; the Journals contain some very curious matter not known in England, and which comes very opportunely here, where, I am sorry to say, science is going to sleep.

I have just completed a second Catalogue of double stars, which will be read at the Astronomical Society (of which I now have the honour to be President) on Friday (May 11th) next (if I can get it fairly copied in time). My work in the Review of Nebulæ advances slowly, as I can very seldom get a night or two at proper times of the moon and year to sweep. But I find your Catalogue most useful. I always draw out from it a regular _working list_ for the night’s sweep, and by that means have often been able to take as many as thirty or forty nebulæ in a sweep. I have now secured such a degree of precision in taking the places of objects in the telescope, that the settling stars (which I prepare a list of each night and arrange them in order of R. A. in the working list) cross the wire often on the very beat of the chronometer when they were expected, and not unusually enter the field of view bisected by the horizontal wire of the eye-piece. In short, I reckon my average error in R. A. in determining the place of a new object by a single observation, not to exceed one second of time, and in Polar distance a quarter of a minute. This you will easily perceive to be a considerable improvement in respect of precision, which is more my aim than it was my father’s, whose object was only discovery. I have found a great many nebulæ not in your Catalogue, and which, therefore, I suppose are new. But I won’t plague you any more with this at present.

* * * * *

Believe me, dear Aunt, Your affectionate Nephew, J. F. W. H.

[Sidenote: 1827. _Her English Bed._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _July 10, 1827_.

MY DEAR LADY HERSCHEL,—

* * * * *

It makes my heart overflow with gratitude when I see so many worthy people remember me with kindness, and I particularly rejoice that Mrs. Morsom has borne her misfortunes with such resignation so as to be still able to participate in the society of her friends; of which I am, alas! through the great distance, entirely cast out, and am obliged to trust alone to myself for keeping up my spirits, and to bear pain and sickness, or feel pleasure without having anybody to participate in my feelings. Out of my family connections, however, I can boast to possess the esteem and love of all who are great and good in Hanover, but to a lonely old woman, who is seldom able to go into or receive company, this does not compensate for the want of sympathising relations.

But I have now, by change of apartments, made myself quite independent of anybody. As long as I can do something for myself this will do very well; but I must not meet troubles at a distance. I may, perhaps, be spared a long confinement before I leave this world, else such a thing as a trusty servant is, I believe, hardly to be met with in this city, which, along with the people in it, are so altered since the French occupation and the return of the military with their extravagant and dissipated notions, imbibed when in Spain and England, with their great pensions, which they draw from the latter country, that it is quite a new world, peopled with new beings, to what I left it in 1772. Added to this comes the fear of having my new little English bed (which on my removal I made with my own hands) burnt before I am aware; for, figure to yourself what danger one continually must be exposed to, when, in the house where I live, seven families (besides the floor my sister-in-law and I occupy) with their servants and children, are living, and their firing wood and turf is all carried over our heads. About a month before Easter a great brewery, very near us, burnt down, with many surrounding houses, to the ground. I looked out of the window, and the burning flakes fell on my forehead; besides this, I have had four times the fright of fires at some greater distance.

* * * * *

Your most affectionate Sister, C. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Aug. 16, 1827._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

On the 9th I received the papers with your short but sweet letter, and according to your direction they are by this time at their destined places, all but Struve’s and Bessel’s; the latter, I was obliged to leave to the care of Encke, and Struve’s to Schumacher. I am particularly obliged to you for your second Catalogue of double and treble stars, which on reading it once over, makes me long for the time when I shall be perfectly at ease to take it up again; for, by the manner in which you gentlemen now attack the starry heavens, it seems that there will soon remain nothing to be discovered.

You mention that Mr. Baily intends to bring Flamsteed’s omitted stars into a Catalogue; I send you a few errata, as I am not sure of having carried them into the copy I left with the three volumes of Flamsteed’s works. And in the list of your father’s MS. papers, in the packet “Auxiliary Article,” is a Catalogue of omitted stars arranged in order of R. A. (a copy of one which I gave to Dr. Maskelyne in 1789). This, may perhaps save some trouble to Mr. B. in arranging them.

Some time ago Count Kupfstein sent me a copy of Littrow’s observations to look at (Part VII. of forty-three sheets large folio), which he publishes at the order and expense of the Emperor. The copy was for the University of Göttingen; but I could only admire the fine paper and beautiful print, as I do not understand the manner in which observations are made with the new invented instruments, for at the time I made a fortnight’s visit to Greenwich, in 1798, they had only the mural quadrant and the meridian passage instruments.

I must conclude for want of time; and, to say the truth, I am fatigued, for I cannot sit up for any length of time, till eight or nine o’clock in the evening, when I find myself always the most fit for society, or a little business. The weather has been too warm for me, and I have done nothing but sleep in the mornings and afternoon, and the worst is that everybody goes to bed between nine and ten, and then I have no society but those I can meet with in a novel. The few, few stars that I can get at out of my window only cause me vexation, for to look for the small ones on the globe my eyes will not serve me any longer.

Tell your dear mother she must not give me the slip, for I will and cannot mourn for anyone more that I love.

I remain, &c., &c., C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1827. _Continuation of her History._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Sept. 25, 1827._

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

Herewith you will receive what I have called No. 1, which was never intended to have met your eye as it is; but, as contrary to my expectation, my No. 2 was so cordially received by you, I had intended to send you only an abridgment of it, because it contains many things which must be very uninteresting and almost unintelligible to you on account of your being unacquainted with the (then) manners and customs of this country, besides requiring to remember that my father and mother were born and educated some hundred and twenty years back. But I must send it as it is, or destroy it immediately, for I feel I shall _now_ never get well enough for making any alteration further than running my eye over it and adding a note here and there where necessary. But I wish not to leave my memorandums any longer to the chance of falling into the hands of officious would-be learned ignorance, to furnish a paragraph in some newspaper or journal.

I will, however, save you and myself the trouble of further apologising for sending you these papers, but just explain my reason for taking a copy of them with me.

When I took my leave of the contents of your father’s library, it was parting from _all_ with which my heart and soul had been engaged for the best part of my life, and I could not withstand the temptation of carrying away with me an index for assisting my memory when in my reveries I should imagine myself to be on the spot where I took leave of all that had been most dear to me.

What is contained in No. 1 I had intended for an everlasting pleasing melancholy subject for conversation with my brother Dietrich, if I should go back again to the place where I first drew my breath, and where the first twenty-two years of my life (from my eighth year on) had been sacrificed to the service of my family under the utmost self-privation without the least prospect or hope of future reward. Or in case I had died in England, it was to have been sent to D., for I wished him to get a more correct idea of our father than what I thought he had formed of that excellent being.

[Sidenote: 1827. _Letter to her Nephew._]

He never recollected the eight years’ care and attention he had received from his father, but for ever murmured at having received too scanty an education, though he had the same schooling we all of us had had before him.

I ought to remember here, I suppose it was in the year 1818, or perhaps earlier, your father wished to draw up the biographical memorandum you have in your possession. But finding himself much at a loss for the dates of the month, or even the year when he first arrived in England with his brother Jacob, I offered to bring some events to his recollection by telling what I remembered having passed at home during the two years his brother was with him, with the proviso not to criticize on telling my story in my own way. But not being very positive about the exact date when my eldest brother returned, I wrote to my brother D. for the date when Jacob entered the orchestra, and found not to have been much out in my reckoning. And from that time on, your father became more settled, and could have recourse to the heads of his compositions, &c., &c., for the dates he wanted for his purpose.

Of all that follows I do not remember to have shown him a single line. But as I had once begun the subject I did not know how or where to leave off, and went on, thinking my brother D. might some time or other profit by getting better acquainted with what had passed in our family before his time, and during his infancy, till the death of his father, which happened when D. was in his twelfth year, of which, from the conversation I had with him during the four years between 1809 and 1813, when last in England, I found he had not the least notion, or had purposely formed a very erroneous one.

But in the last hope of finding in Dietrich a brother to whom I might communicate all my thoughts of past, present, and future, I saw myself disappointed the very first day of our travelling on land. For let me touch on what topic I would, he maintained the contrary, which I soon saw was done merely because he would allow no one to know anything but himself.... Of course, about these papers I could never have any conversation with him nor anybody else, and I send them to you for your perusal, because I do not wish to keep them any longer, and you may put them in the fire after having read them over.

Adieu, dear Nephew, believe me ever, Your most affectionate Aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Dec. 22, 1827._

* * * * *

... Of Dr. Olbers, I hear frequently through a sister and niece here at Hanover; the last was that he was lamenting at Captain Müller not having brought the paper you had intended for him; the poor man, I hear, is grown corpulent and short-breathed, so that he cannot mount up to his observatory without difficulty.

I heard from Capt. Müller (what I had been thinking before) that poor Encke has not changed his situation for the better. I do not mean with regard to income, for I believe his salary is four or five thousand thalers per year, which is equal, or even more, than that of a Prime Minister; but he has no instruments. Much is promised, but he gets nothing; and besides, his family is settled in Götha. It is a pity such a man should be obliged to be idle.

In my last to your dear mother I wrote nearly all I had to say about myself, except what concerns my health, of which I could not give a very good account. Lately I was obliged to consult an oculist, but I suppose he cannot help me, for he has not ordered me anything. I cannot, after having been asleep, get my eyes open again for a considerable time, this is attended with a violent headache and giddiness—but no more of this.

Once you were asking me if I wanted a few of my Indexes; if it is not too late (as you have given up the secretaryship), I would be glad of a couple. N.B.—A hundred copies were promised me as a present, and were not half of them received. The one I have by me, which is intended for you, with my corrections in it, is spoilt in the binding; and I should like to give one to the Duke of Cambridge, to put him in mind of the little old woman who has so frequently been cheered by his kind attentions.

I remain your most affectionate Aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1828. _Her Annuity._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.

_May 9th, 1828._

MY DEAR LADY HERSCHEL,

This is to be a letter of thanks, but I cannot determine to whom I am to allot the greatest portion of my thanks, to you or Miss Baldwin, for her agreeable letter of April 15th, in which so many interesting friends and acquaintances of mine are remembered. For, believe me, my dear Lady H., it is ever with great reluctance I am yearly drawing on you for so considerable a sum, which in the end must some time or other be felt by my dear nephew; but who would have thought it, that I should last so long? but now I am losing strength daily, and I cannot expect to be long for this world. I only say this by way of putting you in mind that I received my annuity at the beginning of the first half-year, and therefore when you hear of my death all your care on my account must be at an end, for I leave a sufficient sum to defray all possible expenses attending a funeral, &c.

But there is nothing grieves me more than that, at my leaving England, I gave myself, with all I was worth, to this branch of my family, believing them (from what my brother D. and their letters told me) as many noble-hearted and perfect beings as there were individuals. But though I am disappointed, I should not like to take back my promise, which could not be done without creating ill-will, and I am too feeble to bear up against any altercation.

I see I have not left room for all the loves and compliments, but I beg you will give them to whoever is kind enough to remember,

My dear Lady Herschel, Your most affectionate Sister, C. HERSCHEL.

In February, 1828, Miss Herschel’s services to the Science of Astronomy were recognized by the presentation to her of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

FROM J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.

_May 5, 1828._

DEAR AUNT,—

Herewith you will receive the medal, of whose award you will have read in the printed notice I enclosed you some ten days ago. My mother also begs your acceptance of a pair of bracelets, and begs me to thank you for your kind and beautiful present of needlework (which even I could admire), and for the _mettwursts_ (which I fully comprehended, and part of which I still comprehend, having regaled on one for breakfast). My mother and cousin are quite well, and desire their best love. Slough stands where it did, and star-gazing goes on well. I have just erected a new instrument (Mr. South’s _ci-devant_ large equatorial), and you shall hear from time to time what is doing....

Your affectionate Nephew, J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

The presentation of the medal is the natural duty of the president of the society, but as Mr. Herschel held that office on this occasion, and had with characteristic modesty “resisted,” as he confesses, the proposed honour, the following supplemental address was delivered by Mr. South, the vice-president, who presented the medal to Miss Herschel through her nephew. It is an eloquent and not unworthy tribute, and an interesting memorial of the esteem in which she was held by the most distinguished body of scientific men in the kingdom.

[Sidenote: 1828. _Gold Medal of Astronomical Society._]

_Address to the Astronomical Society, by J. South, Esq., on presenting the Honorary Medal to Miss C. Herschel, at its Eighth General Meeting, February 8th, 1828._

GENTLEMEN,—

Our excellent president, in his address, has informed you of the appropriation of two of your gold medals since our last anniversary:—a third, however, has been decreed by your council; and when it is known that Miss Caroline Herschel is the individual to whom it stands adjudged, it is not difficult to determine why the president has avoided the slightest allusion to it.

But that your Council has not selected one from the many of its members infinitely more competent to do justice to the transcendent merits of that illustrious lady is most assuredly matter of regret. I must therefore throw myself upon your indulgence, hoping that the goodness of the cause may in some measure compensate for the inability of its advocate.

The labours of Miss Herschel are so intimately connected with, and are generally so dependent upon, those of her illustrious brother, that an investigation of the latter is absolutely necessary ere we can form the most remote idea of the extent of the former. But when it is considered that Sir W. Herschel’s contributions to astronomical science occupy sixty-seven memoirs, communicated from time to time to the Royal Society, and embrace a period of forty years, it will not be expected that I should enter into their discussion. To the Philosophical Transactions I must refer you, and shall content myself with the hasty mention of some of her more immediate claims to the distinction now conferred. To deliver an eulogy (however deserved) upon _his_ memory is not the purpose for which I am placed here.

His first catalogue of new nebulæ and clusters of stars, amounting in number to one thousand, was made from observations with the twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. A second thousand was furnished by means of the same instrument in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788; while the places of 500 others were discovered between 1788 and 1802. But when we have thus enumerated the results obtained in the course of _sweeps_ with this instrument, and taken into consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him the inclemency of the weather? Who shared his privations? A female. Who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was who by _night_ acted as his amanuensis: she it was whose pen conveyed to paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who noted the right ascensions and polar distances of the objects observed; she it was who, having passed the night near the instrument, took the rough manuscripts to her cottage at the dawn of day and produced a fair copy of the night’s work on the following morning; she it was who planned the labour of each succeeding night; she it was who reduced every observation, made every calculation; she it was who arranged everything in systematic order; and she it was who helped him to obtain his imperishable name.

[Sidenote: 1828. _Her Astronomical Labours._]

But her claims to our gratitude end not here; as an original observer she demands, and I am sure she has, our unfeigned thanks. Occasionally her immediate attendance during the observations could be dispensed with. Did she pass the night in repose? No such thing: wherever her brother was, there you were sure to find her. A sweeper planted on the lawn became her object of amusement; but her amusements were of the higher order, and to them we stand indebted for the discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791, of the comet of 1793, and of the comet of 1795, since rendered familiar to us by the remarkable discovery of Encke. Many also of the nebulæ contained in Sir W. Herschel’s catalogues were detected by her during these hours of enjoyment. Indeed, in looking at the joint labours of these extraordinary personages, we scarcely know whether most to admire the intellectual power of the brother, or the unconquerable industry of the sister.

In the year 1797 she presented to the Royal Society a Catalogue of 560 stars taken from Flamsteed’s observations, and not inserted in the British Catalogue, together with a collection of errata that should be noticed in the same volume.

Shortly after the death of her brother, Miss Herschel returned to Hanover. Unwilling, however, to relinquish her astronomical labours whilst anything useful presented itself, she undertook and completed the laborious reduction of the places of 2,500 nebulæ, to the 1st of January, 1800, presenting in one view the results of all Sir William Herschel’s observations on those bodies, thus bringing to a close half a century spent in astronomical labour.

For this more immediately, and to mark their estimation of services rendered during a whole life to astronomy, your Council resolved to confer on her the distinction of a medal of this Society. The peculiarity of our President’s situation, however, and the earnest manner in which the feelings naturally arising from it were urged when the subject was first brought forward, caused your Council to pause,—and waive on that occasion the actual passing their proposed vote. The discussion was, however, renewed on Monday last, and, although there was every disposition to meet the President’s wishes, still under a conviction that the actual doing so would have been a dereliction of public duty, it was

Resolved unanimously, “That a Gold Medal of this Society be given to Miss Caroline Herschel, for her recent reduction, to January, 1800, of the Nebulæ discovered by her illustrious brother, which may be considered as the completion of a series of exertions probably unparalleled either in magnitude or importance in the annals of astronomical labour.” This vote I am sure every one whom I have the honour to address will most heartily confirm.

Mr. Herschel, in the name of the Astronomical Society of London, I present this medal to your illustrious aunt. In transmitting it to her, assure her that since the foundation of this Society, no one has been adjudged which has been earned by services such as hers. Convey to her our unfeigned regret that she is not resident amongst us; and join to it our wishes, nay our prayers, that as her former days have been glorious, so her future may be happy.[37]

Extract from the Report of the Council of the Astronomical Society to the Annual Meeting, Feb. 13, 1835.[38]

“Your Council has no small pleasure in recommending that the names of two ladies, distinguished in different walks of astronomy, be placed on the list of honorary members. On the propriety of such a step, in an astronomical point of view, there can be but one voice; and your Council is of opinion that the time is gone by when either feeling or prejudice, by whichever name it may be proper to call it, should be allowed to interfere with the payment of a well-earned tribute of respect. Your Council has hitherto felt that, whatever might be its own sentiment on the subject, or however able and willing it might be to defend such a measure, it had no right to place the name of a lady in a position the propriety of which might be contested, though upon what it might consider narrow grounds and false principles. But your Council has no fear that such a difference could now take place between any men whose opinion could avail to guide that of society at large; and, abandoning compliment on the one hand, and false delicacy on the other, submits, that while the tests of astronomical merit should in no case be applied to the works of a woman less severely than to those of a man, the sex of the former should no longer be an obstacle to her receiving any acknowledgment which might be held due to the latter. And your Council therefore recommends this meeting to add to the list of honorary members the names of Miss Caroline Herschel and Mrs. Somerville, of whose astronomical knowledge, and of the utility of the ends to which it has been applied, it is not necessary to recount the proofs....”[39]

[Sidenote: 1828. _An Hon. Member of the R. A. Society._]

_May 28th, 1828._

DEAR AUNT,—

... Before this reaches you, you will have got it [the medal]. Pray let me be well understood on one point. It was none of my doings. I resisted strenuously. Indeed, being in the situation I actually hold,[40] I could do no otherwise. The Society have done _well_. I think they might have done _better_, but my voice was neither asked nor listened to.

I ought to mention that it became a matter of discussion at the _Royal_ Society whether one of the Royal medals for the year should not be adjudged to you, but the rule limiting the time within which those medals must be granted being precise, it could not be done without a violation of principle.

I have sent by Mr. G. a few copies of a work of mine on Light, for you to distribute. I shall by the next opportunity (_possibly by this_) send some copies of a third catalogue of double stars, completing the first 1,000. The nebulæ are advancing rapidly; I have got about 1,500 re-observed.

Your affectionate nephew, J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_June 3, 1828._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

* * * * *

And I must once more repeat my thanks to you (and perhaps to Mr. South) for thinking so well of me as to exert yourselves for having the great and undeserved and unexpected honour of a medal bestowed on me....

Here I was interrupted, and all along of the medal; for my friends are all coming to congratulate me, and leave me no time to think of what to say of myself; but I will soon write again, and for the present will only beg that you (or Miss Baldwin, for I dare say she knows,) will give me the history of the medal, such as whose head it is which is on the one side? (I know who it is like very well) and if the impression is to be permanent?

Next, I wish to know if you, or the Royal Society, or the Observatory at Greenwich (the latter I think must be) are in communication with the Imperial astronomer Littrow? If you have seen any of the publications which are yearly printed at the expense of the Emperor, I could wish, if it is not too much trouble to you, to know what you think of the work; because Count Rupfstein, Chargé d’Affaires, sent me the copy (which was to go to Göttingen) to look at, and since then he wants my opinion about it. And I know no more about it than that it is a book printed on fine paper, large folio, of 195 pages, with seven plates of the New Observatory made out of the old one, built at the top of the seventh story of the University at Vienna, a description of the store of instruments, thirty-five articles including rules, two spirit-levels and a case of drawing instruments; tables of precession, aberration, and nutation of ninety-four of the principal stars for the beginning of the year 1835; but I forgot the rest; but so much I remember, that the whole book is filled with these ninety-four stars, of which I cannot comprehend the use, but I say nothing about it, and _hum_ and _ha_ when the good man begins to talk about it. Dear nephew, adieu!

I am, your affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1828. _Thanks for Bracelets._]

I have but just time to thank my dear Lady Herschel, in the first place of giving me the great pleasure of seeing her own handwriting once more, which to me continues much plainer than all the beautiful new-fashioned Italian hands. Secondly, I return my best thanks for the beautiful bracelets; I am going to let them be admired this evening, as I am obliged (though very unwell) to go to a tea-party, and it will be no small trouble to me to make myself fine enough for not disgracing your present.

When next I write I hope I shall not be hurried so, and be able to tell you how it goes here at Hanover. Last week I heard five songs by Madame Catalani at the theatre here; but of this, more in my next.

With many compliments to Miss B., Believe me, your most affectionate sister, C. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_June 23, 1828._

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I have but just time to write a few lines to accompany the Journals Nos. II. and III., therefore I must beg you to excuse the unconnected manner in which I am writing, for it must require some time before I, and many a one beside me, will recover from the fright we were put in on the 21st, at three o’clock in the afternoon, by a thunderstorm, accompanied with a shower of hail of such an uncommon size as weighing three quarters of a pound; some speak of still larger. I, of course, could only judge of them at a distance by the look, as my carpet was covered by them of all sizes and shapes; I noticed one in particular of the form of a bottle of india-rubber (as it looks before the neck is cut off), but was at the time incapable of going near enough, for I was obliged to keep out of the direction where they entered, forcing the fragments of glass to my sofa (where I was just going to take my solitary dinner) at the opposite end of the room, which is twenty-one feet distant from the window. The houses look deplorable, and the streets are still glittering with powdered glass. Expresses were sent instantly by the magistrates in all directions to the neighbouring towns and glass-houses for workmen and materials. I have been fortunate enough to get my lodging-room mended after lying only two nights without anything but a shutter.

Our gardens and country houses about Hanover have had the same fate. This happened the day before a _Volks Fest_, which the Hanoverian Bürgers keep for three days yearly, and for which all preparations were made, and is now by many kept with a heavy heart.

But I must not lose this opportunity of mentioning what I forgot in my last, which is to beg you will (when I am no more) take my medal under your protection, and give it a place among those you have of your father’s and your own. I will take care that it shall be delivered to you along with those books which I keep yet as companions, though it is seldom I can look into them, for most of my time I am obliged to waste in lying on the sofa, where I try to forget myself by reading nonsense, over which I soon go to sleep.

I have the two dullest months before me, for the plays and concerts do not begin again till autumn; all families are either gone to the baths or at their villas, &c. My friends are all some dozen years younger than myself, and I cannot always, or but seldom, accept their invitations. Hauptmann Müller took twice tea with me since Christmas. He heard from Encke that a great astronomical meeting was to take place at Berlin, to which Mr. South had been invited; if there should be any truth in this, and that you and Mr. South were _inseparables_, I might hope to see you once more; but I must not think of anything at the distance, agitations I cannot bear any longer, I only exist by attempting to be indifferent about all human events, and hardly anything can yet give me pleasure but to hear that you, my dear nephew, and those who are dear to you, are well and happy.

Yours very affectionately, C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1828. _About the Medal._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

_Aug. 21, 1828._

MY DEAR NEPHEW,—

* * * * *

What you tell me in the short note dated May 24th, which accompanied the three copies of my Index, concerning the medal, has completely put me out of humour with the same; for to say the truth, I felt from the first more shocked than gratified by that singular distinction, for I know too well how dangerous it is for women to draw too much notice on themselves. And the little pleasure I felt at the receipt of the few lines by your hands, was entirely owing to the belief that what was done was both with your approbation and according to your recommendation. Throughout my long-spent life I have not been used or had any desire of having public honours bestowed on me; and now I have but one wish, that I may take _your_ good opinion with me into my grave.

I have no time or inclination to think much on this subject, else I could say a great deal about the _clumsy speech_ of the V. P. Whoever says _too much of me_ says _too little of your father_! and only can cause me uneasiness.

Mr. South I have seen only twice, or perhaps three times, and that was in yours and your dear father’s presence, and to all conversation between you and Mr. South I could only be a listener, and, seeing you so well agree together I congratulated myself on your having found a friend possessing much knowledge of what passes in common life, of which a young and deep mathematician and philosopher has had no time of laying in a great stock.

I heard you would make a visit to Struve at Dorpat this summer together, and I concluded I should then have had a call on the way home. But on that account I feel now relieved from the painful prospect of a final parting from you once more, though it will cost me many melancholy hours to bring that to paper which I yet wish for you to know. But I am too much destroyed at present to explain myself any further, and will only say that by the Michaelmas messenger I will send every scrap of paper which I have yet kept solely for my amusement and for assisting my memory. You may look them over at some leisure [time] and then destroy them; for I go not one night to bed but thinking it may be the last of my life.... I have a numerous and valuable acquaintance, but I keep all my difficulties to myself, for I was ever careful not to injure a relation, or one with whom I am connected, in the opinion of others, by saying what I think of them.

I must prepare to pay a visit at the villa of a friend of mine where I have twice this summer refused an invitation.

So, God bless you, my dearest nephew, and be assured of my affectionate regard.

C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1828. _On her Diary._]

FROM J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.

LONDON, _Dec. 9, 1828_.

MY DEAR AUNT,—

I received your most valuable diary and all the papers you sent me by Mr. Goltermann quite safe, and I most sincerely thank you for them. You speak of “exposing yourself” by presenting them to me, but I am so far from considering it in that light, that I feel proud to possess them, and if anything could increase the regard and esteem I entertain for their writer, it would have been their perusal. Your promised Christmas “scraps and lucubrations” will not be less welcome.

The Journals also came safe and well to hand, but in the _series_ you have sent me I cannot find that for December, 1827, which prevents my binding up the set. If you can procure this and enclose it with the next, I shall be very glad.

I trust to my cousin Mary for telling you all the news of family matters. Astronomy goes on pretty well. My sweeps accumulate. I am very sorry that anything I said should have put you out of humour with the medal, which was a well-merited distinction, and so far as the Astronomical Society is concerned, most honourably conferred. All voices are agreed on that, and on the propriety of the thing, so pray don’t suffer yourself to be put out of conceit with it by my nonsense, which after all only went to the manner, not the matter. Our friend S. means well, but wants discretion.

* * * * *

J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.

26, LOWER PHILLIMORE PLACE, _Jan. 14, 1829_.

MY DEAR AUNT,—

I received your two letters at once, and I cannot enough thank you for the kind consideration which prompted your offer, for I will not yet call it your gift, as I cannot really consent to such a robbery. If you are bent on giving me something truly valuable—infinitely more so than money, which (though I am not rich, and am now less so by some annual hundreds than I was, and am about _voluntarily_[41] to incur a still further diminution of income) yet, thank God, I am in want of nothing and would rather spare to you than let you spare to me. But if you want to give me what I shall really prize highly, let it be your portrait in oils of the size of my father’s. Let me send back the money, and employ part of it in engaging a good Hanoverian artist to paint it. You often tell me your time hangs heavy, so here I am furnishing you with a refuge from _ennui_, and when you know how much pleasure it will give me to see your likeness hanging by my father’s, and that you can without inconvenience or difficulty (and _now_ without expense) do it, I entreat you not to refuse. I know what you will urge against it, but you undervalue yourself and your own merits so much that I will not allow it any weight.

My mother is ill with the gout, but I hope it is not going to be a severe fit, as she is already on the mend.

Your affectionate nephew, J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1829. _On her Nephew’s marriage._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.

_March 3, 1829._

MY DEAR LADY HERSCHEL,—

I long to congratulate you on the happy occasion of seeing your dear son so happily settled, but am almost afraid your late illness ... may have prevented you from being present at the performance of the ceremony on which the future happiness of my dear nephew is so much depending.

I must beg you will thank Miss B. for sparing me so much of her time by her circumstantial accounts of the interesting event, and hope she will continue to write, though I am not able to answer punctually, for I am not free from pain for one hour out of the twenty-four, and so it has been for a long time past with me. N.B.—She mentions my nephew having written me a letter informing me of his future happiness, but such I have not received, and perhaps he may only have intended it, or it is lost....

The following hint is only to you as a dear sister, for as such I now know you:—

All I am possessed of is looked upon as their own, when I am gone; the disposal of my brother’s picture is even denied me—it hangs in Mrs. H.’s drawing-room, where a set of old women play cards under it on her club day....

I have no great matters to leave, a few articles of furniture which I had the trouble to provide myself with (though I paid for furnished lodgings), would not produce a capital if sold. It is only pictures, books, telescopes, globes, &c., I regret should come into hands of those who know not the value of them; but Miss Beckedorff will take my sweeper under her protection; but enough of this.... I hope, above all, to have soon the pleasure to hear that you will hold out with me now that we are entering on our eightieth year.

But as long as God pleases I shall remain

Your most affectionate sister, C. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL, ESQ.

_March 3, 1829._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I have spent four days in vain endeavours to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful sensation Miss B.’s (and your P.S.) letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can at this present moment find no words which would better express my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my lips, according to Simeon. See St. Luke, cap. ii., v. 29: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!”

I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which are most dear to me, can admit. For from the description Miss B. has given me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my dear nephew’s future happiness is now established.

I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best regards to all your new connections where they are due in the best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for writing all I could wish to say.

I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for the last three months, and feel, moreover, much fatigued by sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor Tielemann for having my picture taken, which he did at my apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. You will receive it with the Easter messenger, but I must send it without frame.... I must conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings, in which I most fervently join by saying, “God bless you both!”

Your happy and affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1829. _Her Portrait._]

TO THE SAME.

_March 30, 1829._

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I have received my picture; by the enclosed card you will see the name of the artist.... Whatever you may think about my looking so young, I cannot help; for two of the days I was sitting to him, I received the agreeable news from England—one day Lady H.’s likeness was thrown in my lap (Mr. Tielemann taking it out of the box), and four days after, the account of your approaching happiness arrived. No wonder I became a dozen years younger all at once. I was sitting about seven hours in so many days in my own apartments; but there is but one voice, that the picture looks life itself.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1829. _Letters._]

TO LADY HERSCHEL.

_Nov. 16, 1829._

* * * * *

I was unwilling to be troublesome with a repetition of the detail of my infirmities, to which I have of late to add cramps and rheumatic complaints, which rob me of many hours’ sleep and the usual nimbleness in walking, which has hitherto gained me the admiration of all who know me; but the good folks are not aware of the arts I make use of, which consist in never leaving my rooms in the daytime, except I am able to trip it along as if nothing were the matter.

I am glad you are removed again to Kensington, where you are within a few hours’ reach of all who are dear to you (a blessing I never enjoyed throughout all the years of my long life). But I must get in another strain; only when I am writing to you (in particular) I cannot help comparing the country in which I have lived so long, with this in which I must end my days, and which is totally changed since I left it, and not one alive that I knew formerly, except my dear Mrs. Beckedorff; through her means I have, however, been introduced to many valuable ladies of rank and amiable qualities, but to keep up their acquaintance I am obliged to sacrifice my ease and required quiet, which I have still vanity enough to do sometimes.

A fortnight ago I paid my respects to the Landgräfin of Hesse-Homburg (who looks younger and handsomer than when we saw her as a bride at Slough the day before she left Windsor); it was by her desire I made the visit, and I was honoured with a salute at parting, by way of showing we were friends (as she was pleased to say), and a desire to repeat my visit soon.

... I wish also to know on what subject the late Alex. Stewart may have wrote, for that he was an author I know, but I never saw any of his works and might most likely not have understood them, for you know I had no time to read anything for my improvement, but was obliged to be poring for ever over astronomical tables and catalogues, &c.

Another thing I wish Miss B. to inform me of. The 30th November the Royal Society opens with choosing their President and Council; I wish for a list of their names, and likewise of the next change of the Astronomical Society of London. But do not wonder at my being so inquisitive about these things. I cannot think of anything else which could interest me more than to see the names of learned men on paper, especially when I see any of those I have known among them. Besides, as in December our concerts begin, where the Duke of Cambridge, on seeing me, generally makes some inquiry after my nephew and family, and what is going on in the philosophical world, one does not always like to stand with one’s mouth open, or to say I cannot tell!...

Mrs. and Miss Beckedorff send their kind love....

Mr. Q., 63, he owns himself, marries a young lady in her teens, but she owns 23; she could not withstand his pretty equipage. He is grown very old and nasty, and good for nothing but to injure his children and grand-children.

God be with you, my dear Lady H. Believe me your most affectionate sister, C. HERSCHEL.

TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL, ESQ.

HANOVER, _January 11, 1830_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I am sorry it was not in my power to send a letter by way of announcing the Journals, &c., which you will, I hope, receive soon by the messenger who left Hanover the 27th of December. I have been very ill and confined to my room now three weeks, but it seems _der Würg Engel[42] ist noch einmal vorüber gegangen_, at which I am very glad, because I wish to be a little better prepared for making my exit than I am at present.

I intend to amuse myself between this and Easter with collecting and packing up those books which were to be sent to you after my death, and perhaps if I have withstood this _terrible_ winter I may have the pleasure of hearing that you have received them safe, and live in the enjoyment of a few months more, in which I hope to hear of the happy increase to your family, and prosperity in general.

So I am to be godmother! with all my heart! I am now so enured to receiving honours in my old age, that I take them all upon me without blushing....

_Jan. 12th._—No letter for me yet! and no news, except that the Landgräfin of Hesse-Homburg sent me yesterday a very handsome fur mantle to wear when I go to the play, with a message that if I did not put it on, by way of saving it, the next thing she sent me would be a rod. I am accused of having been clothed too thin, for which I have been suffering these last three weeks.... I will give my opinion, and in style of a critic, and you will find yourself not to come off quite free from blame. You have represented me as a goddess, whereas I have done nothing but what I believe to be right; and wherever I did wrong, it was because I knew no better!

[Sidenote: 1830. _A Box of Gifts._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL, ESQ.

HANOVER, _June 18, 1830_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

This letter will go by to-day’s post, which I believe is the last before the messenger leaves Hanover, and Legations Rath Haase has promised to direct the box for me, so that it is to be called for at Mr. Goltermann’s either by yourself, or somebody who will look to it, that it may come safely to your hands. And I will give you here a list of the contents of the box, by which you will see that I must be very anxious till I know that it is safely come to hand, especially as I was obliged to have the box made very slight on account of saving size and weight.

_Contents_:— Wollaston’s Catalogue. Bode’s Catalogue. My Index to Flamsteed’s Observations. Herschel’s and South’s Observations, bound in red morocco. Logarithmic Tables by Taylor. Seventy-two Papers of your father’s, in five volumes.

The parcel directed for my niece contains ornaments which I am afraid will soon be wanted for a general mourning, but I am told they may be worn at any time. Miss Beckedorff chose them for me; my direction was they should be pretty, and not of English manufacture, and not larger than what might be put in the space which I showed her. I am only sorry I could not find anything that might please your dear mother, for, to judge by myself, we want now only ease, quiet, and patience to bear the pains and infirmities attendant on our age; and we are too far asunder for doing more than wishing one another the above-mentioned qualities.

* * * * *

I had intended to have sent my medal along with the books, but since you have presented me with the handsome miniature of your dear Margaretta, from which I cannot part as long as I live, I have mentioned already to Dr. Groskopf that the medal, miniature, and my gold watch (the gift of her grandfather in 1774), are to be sent to my grand-niece and namesake, C. H.

* * * * *

I do not like to send empty paper, but I must. Time falls short, and I am tired already with the thought of the long walk I have to take to carry this letter, for I must see Haase once more, and it is attended with great difficulty to get so heavy a box over at present.

God bless you, dear nephew, Says your affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL, ESQ.

HANOVER, _Oct. 27, 1830_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

I see by my memorandum-book that I sent a letter to your dear mother on the 20th August, partly in answer to one of Miss Baldwin’s, which contained the melancholy account of Miss Isabella [Stewart’s] dangerous state of health. I have ever since been very uneasy, and wishing for more cheering information, because I know what a drawback it would be on the happiness of all your dear connection if you should lose her, besides the interruption it must cause in the hitherto cheerful correspondence in which even my dear niece took the pen to join in affording me the only comfort I am yet capable of receiving....

Tell your dear Margaret that the very day on which the letter arrived, in which she requested some hair, I sent for the hair-dresser and made him cut off all which was useless to me, leaving plenty for a toupee and a little curl in the poll. But I repented not having kept a few out of the plait, which I might have sent in a letter, as I understand it is designed for a talisman against the evils of this hurly-burlying world. But I consoled myself with the thoughts that no harm could possibly assail the dear little creature as long as she is under the care of her affectionate and excellent mother, leaving a loving father out of the account.

Dr. Groskopf has been _zum Ritter ernannt_ by his present Majesty. So was Dr. Mühry last week. If all is betitled in England and Germany, why is not my nephew, J. H., a lord, or a wycount at least (query)? General Komarzewsky used to say to your father, Why does not he (meaning King George III.) make you Duke of Slough?

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1830-1831. _Her Nephew’s Book._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL, ESQ.

_March, 1831._

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

If it was not high time to congratulate you on your birthday—of which I most heartily wish you may enjoy many returns in uninterrupted and increasing happiness—I might have still deferred to thank you for your kind letter and the valuable present of _your book_. I intend to follow your mother’s example to read it “from end to end,” which I was hitherto not able to do on account of my dim eyes; but now the days are getting longer I think I see better, and to judge by the few pages I have read, that so far from making me go to sleep, it will be an antidote against a propensity for doing so in the daytime.

I much regret my inability to acknowledge my dear niece’s letter in such a manner as might encourage a correspondence with me, but it is difficult to write in a cheerful strain when one is continually in the dismals. I do all I can to keep up my spirits under a daily increase of my infirmities, and have been best part of the winter confined to my rooms. My complaint is incurable, for it is a _decay_ of nature, and nine days after your birthday I am eighty-one. What a shocking idea it is to be decaying! _decaying!_ But never mind—if I am decaying here, there will be, as Mrs. Maskelyne once was comforting me (on observing my growing lean), “the less corruption in my grave!”

_22nd._—Some weeks ago I wrote as above, which I intended as a preface to my dying speech, with intention to give you a few hints concerning ——, and indeed I may say of all my German relations, except the Knipping family. If I did not fear that some of them would, after my decease, introduce themselves as troublesome correspondents to you, I would rather write about something else just now, and indeed I had better drop the subject, for you will know, I suppose, how to rid yourself of a pestering fool by answering coolly, or not at all.

_23rd, afternoon._—Yesterday I was interrupted again, and the whole morning of the present, which I had intended to spend with you at Slough, has again been taken up with gabbling with my radical servant. But the day after Easter I get another, and I hope I shall have better luck; but till then I am not mistress of my time, therefore will hasten to inform you that Mrs. Beckedorff is packing up a parcel for me, which is going from here the day after Easter.... The packet contains a tablecloth, with twelve napkins (the cloth is eight yards long, Mrs. B. says), which I hope my dear niece will do me the pleasure to accept as a remembrance of her old aunt.

Your book[43] I have read as far as page 150, and met with nothing but what I clearly can comprehend, and promise myself much pleasure in reading the rest, which hitherto I have been prevented to do by being continually interrupted, and besides not being able to read many pages at a time before the lines run one into another.

My dear niece said in her letter to me your book would cause a sensation, and so it has, as I hear from all quarters. I am told it has been translated into German from a French translation, and much [all in admiration] is appearing in Gelehrten Anzeigen, which I have not yet been able to get a sight of.... I must give over and defer writing till I am provided with pen, ink, and paper. The first thing my radical servant did when she came to me was to break the bottle [containing] the ink of my own making, which was to have lasted me all my life-time.... First and foremost, give my love to your dear mother, and believe me, ever your most affectionate aunt,

C. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1831. _Letter to her Niece._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO MRS. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _May 14, 1831_.

O! my dearest niece, where shall I find words which can express my thanks to you for writing me such an interesting letter, at a moment when you were suffering from indisposition!

* * * * *

_May 18th._—Dear niece, how are you now? I hope so far well enough to read what I think necessary to say in answer to yours of May 2nd. I was glad to see that you think the table-linen pretty, but I tremble on seeing that you puzzle yourself about sending me anything in return. Nothing would distress me more than receiving anything from England besides such dear letters as I have hitherto been blessed with, for I am provided with even more than is necessary to appear in the best circle of society, whenever my feebleness will permit me to go from home, and I feel no small regret at leaving so many good things among those who do not want it, or ever cared for me. Now, this is once for all! and you have nothing to do but to go by what dear Herschel says—he knows me, I see, better than I thought he did.

I have something to remark about what you call my letters, which were to be deposited in the letter case. I was in hopes you would have thrown away such incoherent stuff, as I generally write in a hurry at those moments when I am sick for want of knowing how it looks at home, and not to let it rise in judgment against my, perhaps, bad grammar, bad spelling, &c., for to the very last I must feel myself walking on uncertain grounds, having been obliged to learn too much without any one thing thoroughly; for my dear brother William was my only teacher, and we began generally with what we should have ended; he, supposing I knew all that went before. Perhaps I might have done so once, but my memory he used to compare with sand, in which everything could be inscribed with ease, but as easily effaced. Some time hence you will see a book[44] in which I transcribed such lessons as my brother was obliged to give me at such times when I was to set about some calculations of which I knew not much about. I shall this summer collect every scrap of that kind—some written by my brother, and some penned down as they flowed from his lips, and some even incomplete, which were intended to be given more correct when at leisure. I bought a very handsome portfolio for this purpose, and had my nephew’s new seal engraved upon the lock.

I should not have thought of troubling my dear nephew or you with looking over these fragments, but I cannot part with remembrances of times long gone by, so long as life is in me; but for fear I should not have at the last moment the power of burning them, I will keep them ready for being sent off to Slough, for nothing of the kind shall be seen by unhallowed eyes....

[Sidenote: 1831. _Her Grave.—Paganini._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _June 4, 1831_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

Just now I received yours of May 22nd, and the next post will not go from here till the 7th, and I wish the wind may be favourable that you may be soon made easy about the £50, for which I beg you will, according to custom, give the above receipt to your dear mother. And you may as well add my heartfelt thanks; for what good can it do troubling her with my letters, knowing the weakness in her hands will not permit her answering them....

... I have laid apart for every possible expense which can occur at my exit. Six years ago I had a vault built in the spot where my parents rest. The ground is mine auf ewig (for ever).

You have made me completely happy for some time with the account you sent me of the double stars; but it vexes me more and more that in this abominable city there is no one who is capable of partaking in the joy I feel on this revival of your father’s name. His observations on double stars were from first to last the most interesting subject; he never lost sight of it in his papers on the construction of the heavens, &c. And I cannot help lamenting that he could not take to his grave with him the satisfaction I feel at present at seeing his _son_ doing him so ample justice by endeavouring to perfect what he could only begin....

TO MRS. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _August 11, 1831_.

... I wish Paganini may make some stay yet in England, that you, or my nephew at least, may hear him. The English cannot be more frantic about him than the Hanoverians were. He filled our play-house twice at double price, and though some part of the orchestra had been thrown into parquet, still gentlemen were scattered among the lamps and squeezed in among the performers on the stage. You will think me the maddest of the mad when I tell you that, after spending three parts of each day in pain and misery, I make one of the audience twice a week, if possibly I can hold up my head; for then I am lulled into forgetfulness of my severed situation from all what _was_ or _is_ still dear to me, and amuse myself sometimes with having my vanity tickled by the notice which is taken of my being or not being present. In _The Sun_ of July 13 is a description of Paganini’s face and looks, which I could not have given better myself after having had some conversation with him (through an interpreter); on coming one evening at the end of a play out of my box, I found some gentlemen waiting to introduce him to me, which I believe was partly done to give the people an opportunity to see him.

I am reading all the Parliamentary speeches as given in _The Sun_, and there I meet with some excellent ones by a Sir James Mackintosh; pray is he any connexion of your family? In the paper of July 6th I saw a quotation (by a speaker, Mr. E. Lytton Bulwer,) from a celebrated philosopher (meaning our _own_ J. Herschel) who had felicitously observed that “the greatest discoverer in science can do no more than accelerate the progress of discovery.”...

I remain, my dear niece, Your most affectionate CAR. HERSCHEL.

The following letter, from the celebrated Encke, is one of the few preserved which belong to this period, and gives graceful expression to the high esteem in which she was held:—

[Sidenote: 1831. _Letter from Prof. Encke._]

FROM PROFESSOR ENCKE TO MISS HERSCHEL.

BERLIN, _Aug. 17, 1831_.

MADAME,—

I feel great pleasure in informing you that the parcel which has been forwarded to me through your kindness is safely arrived here, and has been delivered to Professor Mitscherlich, according to the directions given by your celebrated nephew, J. Herschel.

I hardly know, madame, how to return you my thanks for the trouble you have so kindly taken in transmitting the parcel to me. It would, indeed, have been an irretrievable loss to have been deprived of the excellent treatise written by your eminent nephew, had it not reached its destination.

Allow me, madame, to avail myself of this opportunity to pay my respects to a lady, whose name is so intimately connected with the most brilliant astronomical discoveries of the age, and whose claims to the gratitude of every astronomer will be as conspicuous as your own exertions for extending the boundaries of our knowledge, and for assisting to develope the discoveries by which the name of your great brother has been rendered so famous throughout the literary world.

I am, with great esteem and regard, madame, Your most obedient, humble servant, T. F. ENCKE.

MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _Oct. 25, 1831_.

MY DEAR SIR JOHN,—

But mind, you are still my dear nephew, and will be so good as to give the above to your dear mother. With this last sum, I have actually received since I am here a thousand pounds; a sum which I had no idea (nor I am sure your father neither) you would have been burdened with so long, for when I left England I thought my life was not worth a farthing. But no more of this for the present....

You promised me another Catalogue of double stars, but I suppose you have had no time to arrange them. But do not observe too much in cold weather. Write rather books to make folks stare at your profound knowledge....

Loves and compliments to all whom _we_ love, and God bless my dear nephew, says

Your affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

P.S.—I received Miss B.’s letter on the 16th. It gave me infinite pleasure to see that Babbage and Brewster have also been honoured with notice. As for the news of my dear nephew’s appointment, she came too late, for on the 9th I was honoured by a note written by the Duke of Cambridge’s own hands, informing me of it.

MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _December 25, 1831_.

DEAREST NEPHEW,—

More than two months are elapsed since I was made happy by your dear letter of October 15th.... I hope that perhaps some good account is on its passage and may reach me before the rivers are frozen up, as at this time of the year the posts are often interrupted.

I have of late been very little from home, except two evenings in the week to the play, for I cannot walk the streets without being led, as I cannot trust my eyes to avoid obstacles, besides a total loss of strength; so that the chief connection I keep up with this world depends on what I by imperfect glimpses can gather from the newspaper and a little talk sometimes with Mrs. Beckedorff. But a few weeks ago I exerted myself, fearing if I delayed much longer I might not be able at all to pay my respects to our good Duchess of Cambridge, and I wished to make good a blunder I had committed two years ago, when I was conversing with her at the Landgräfin’s for half an hour together, taking her all the while to be an officer’s lady, as she came accompanied by her brother, the Prince of Hesse, who wore a moustache. It is the case in general, that I do not know my most intimate friends except by their voices. I was, however, very much gratified by my visit. A lady, who is in the habit of going to Court, left my name along with her own with the lady-in-waiting, and the next Sunday we were appointed to be there at half-past one (a very inconvenient hour for me, for I only begin to be alive when other folks go to sleep). But no reception could be more friendly. I was made take my place by her on the sofa, and after some conversation, the little Princess Augusta was called to tell me that she had seen you at Slough; you had shown her the telescope and described how it was moved by the handle round about. I asked her if she had seen the little girls. The Duchess explained that her call had been unexpected, and regretted that she had not had an opportunity of coming to Slough herself. Then the Princess was sent to call her father, whom I presented with your book, and he went to fetch his spectacles, and was much pleased with the subject, saying, “I shall read it, for I like such things.” After I had read the whole book myself—mind, I say _the whole_, though you recommended me to read only the first and last chapters—and knowing no one who is worthy to look into it, I had it handsomely bound and wrote in the top margin “To His Royal Highness, the Duke of Cambridge.” At the side of Sir Francis Bacon stands “_from_” and in the margin at the bottom, “Caroline Herschel, aunt of the author.” By this means, I know it secured from contamination in the Duke’s library, where anybody who is desirous of reading it will find it.

[Sidenote: 1832. _Last Illness of Lady Herschel._]

_December 26th._

MY DEAREST NIECE,—

So far I wrote last night, thinking to fill this page to-day, with such news as I should like to communicate to my nephew if he was present; but now all is fled from my memory, for my dear sister is ill, and perhaps still in danger, and my only trust is in your goodness of sending me a speedy account, which may confirm the hope you seem to entertain of her recovery. For there is nothing I so ardently desire as to be spared the pain of mourning for a single individual of those friends I have in England, and how much more it would affect me to lose one so nearly connected, and within a few months of my own age, it may be easily imagined.... Next to listening to the conversation of learned men, I like to hear about them, but I find myself, unfortunately, among beings who like nothing but smoking, big talk on politics, wars, and such like things. Of our German astronomers, I have lately heard nothing; but that, perhaps, is owing to Encke having had the cholera, but of which he soon recovered. Gauss has been long unhappily situated by losing his second wife, who had been long lingering....

... I beg once more for an early assurance of my dear sister’s recovery.

MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _Jan. 20, 1832_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

My dear niece’s and your letter of January 3rd, have indeed answered your kind intentions, for the painful communication of your last found me prepared, and enabled me to break the black seal with tolerable composure, and I found no small consolation from your description of the easy ending of your dear departed parent.

At this moment, I am incapable of saying anything of myself. I know it cannot be long before I shall follow the dear departed, and my pen would trace nothing but lamentations at the prospect that my remains will not be joined in rest by the side of those with whom I lived so long.

But I beg and trust you will continue to bless me with your good opinion and approbation, until the close, for that I have hitherto been in possession of the same, I conclude from the kind letters I receive from your own hands....

[Sidenote: 1832. _Enters her eighty-third year._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _March 14, 1832_.

MY DEAREST NIECE,—

Your precious letter, which I received this morning, has relieved my mind from the fear that some ill might have befallen my dear friends, because in my solitude the time between January 7th and March 14th, seems to be an age; besides, the last melancholy letters required some soothing subject to think on, for I do nothing else but think of the spot where I once was and never can be again.

But now all is well; your dear letter will make me happy for some time to come, and in my next I will more fully reply to it, when I hope to be more composed than I am just now, as the day after to-morrow will be my birthday, when I, _perhaps_, enter on my eighty-third year. I am always at the return of that day what one may call “hipt,” and therefore must destroy my thoughts any how as well as I can.

I kept my dear nephew’s birthday last week, the 7th of March, by thinking of you throughout the whole day. When I was at dinner, I made my maid stand opposite to me, and pouring her out a glass of wine, made her say, Sir John Herschel, lebe hoch! (for ever).

But I must hasten to say that which I wish you to know as soon as possible, which is, to beg of all things not to send the parcel the good Miss B. intended for me. I suppose it may consist of some dress of my dear departed sister.... I beg your acceptance of it for a remembrance of us both; it would vex me to add anything I set store on, only to leave it to those I cannot esteem.

* * * * *

I am much obliged to my dear nephew for sending the few pages announcing the publications of the Royal Society. It is only such morsels as these which keep up a desire for living any longer. But the premium of the King of Denmark’s medal, for the discovery of telescopic comets, provokes me beyond all endurance, for it is of no use to me. One of my eyes is nearly dark, and I can hardly find the line again I have just been tracing by feeling on paper.

Pray do not forget me when my nephew’s recension of Mrs. Somerville’s works makes its appearance....

TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _April 20, 1832_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

* * * * *

My dear niece has promised me your article[45] on the writings of Mrs. Somerville. I hope she will not forget it, nor you the Catalogue of double stars. Such things make me very happy, but of any expensive publications I would not wish you to throw away upon me _now_; it makes me only grudge to think of having to leave them in the hands of blockheads. But if you have anything for Göttingen, Encke, or Bessel, it amuses me to forward it. Olbers has been dangerously ill for some time; they tell me he is too fat, and lives too well.

I only write this by way of announcing the parcel, that you may inquire for it should it not come to hand in due time, else I am very tired, and must yet make up the parcel, and I want to show myself once more to-morrow evening at the Oratorio, as it is for the poor, and will be the last performance this season....

[Sidenote: 1832. _Letter from Hanover._]

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _June 19, 1832_.

... I found my aunt wonderfully well and very nicely and comfortably lodged, and we have since been on the full trot. She runs about the town with me and skips up her two flights of stairs as light and fresh at least as _some folks_ I could name who are not a fourth part of her age.... In the morning till eleven or twelve she is dull and weary, but as the day advances she gains life, and is quite “fresh and funny” at ten or eleven, p.m., and sings old rhymes, nay, even dances! to the great delight of all who see her.... It was only this evening that, escaping from a party at Mrs. Beckedorff’s, I was able to indulge in what my soul has been yearning for ever since I came here—a solitary ramble out of town, among the meadows which border the Leine-strom, from which the old, tall, sombre-looking Markt-thurm and the three beautiful lanthorn-steeples of Hanover are seen as in the little picture I have often looked at with a sort of mysterious wonder when a boy as that strange place in foreign parts that my father and uncle used to talk so much about, and so familiarly. The _likeness_ is correct, and I soon found the point of view.

Yesterday, being the anniversary of Waterloo, there was a great military _spectacle_ here in a large esplanade, where there is erected a tall and very pretty column, with a bronze “Victory” at the top, hopping on one leg. A few guns were fired, a sermon preached, the veil of the statue (shown for the first time) pulled off by the Duke of Cambridge, and a good dinner eaten by 350 personages, of which number I had the honour to be one unit, in a vast saloon in the Herrenhauser Palace, about the length, breadth, and height of St. George’s Hall, at Windsor, the Duke presiding and giving the toasts, &c., in honour of the Waterloo heroes. The saloon was ornamented most curiously with guns, swords, and pikes, arranged in patterns, and with Waterloo trophies, and a panoramic view of the field of Waterloo in compartments. No ladies were admitted to the table, and (what say you to the gallantry of the Hanoverian military?) there was no ball in the evening, nor _any_ the _slightest_ provision for the amusement or participation of the fair. So Mars and Venus, I suppose, have had a “tiff!” Adieu.

[Sidenote: 1832-1833. _Her Life in Hanover._]

TO LADY HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _Dec. 4, 1832_.

MY DEAREST NIECE,—

I shall in future, when I have anything to say to my dear nephew address myself to you, well knowing his time is too precious for spending even on reading.... Thank him most heartily for the “Edinburgh Review,” and the description of the wonderful machine.... But here is the _grievance_—I cannot possibly read the Review, my sight is almost lost, and I must wait till Miss Beckedorff or somebody can read to me.... Dr. Tias, who travelled through Hanover, called on me to-day. He talked strangely about my nephew’s intention of going to the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. Hausmann told me some weeks ago that the _Times_ contained the same report, to which I replied, “It is a lie!” but what I heard from Dr. Tias to-day makes me almost believe it possible. Ja! if I was thirty or forty years younger, and could go too? in Gottes nahmen! But I will not think about it till you yourself tell me more of it, for I have enough to think of my cramps, blindness, sleepless nights, &c.

TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _March 30, 1833_.

MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—

Ever since the 6th of March, the day on which I received my dear niece’s of the 26th of February, I have been enabled to dispel by its comfortable contents the gloomy reflections with which I am on the return of your and my birthdays assailed. But being obliged to spend such days alone, at a distance from all who are dear to us; or, what would be worse, in the presence of beings of uncongenial feelings, one is apt to fall again into the dismals, which the return of the late snow and frosty weather prevented my taking recourse to my usual remedy, which is to turn all grievances into a joke. Your birthday I celebrated exactly like that of 1832, viz., after dinner I jingled glasses with Betty, and made her say, “Es lebe Sir John! hoch![46] hurrah!” She went in the kitchen to wash the dishes, and I with a book (a silly novel) in my hand on the sofa asleep!...

I begin to be confused, and had rather say nothing of the thousand things which are running in my head, and which all must be said within the next six months. As yet I can follow your steps and proceedings, for I read the papers—the _Globe_—and saw that in June is the meeting in Cambridge.... From these papers I also see how all my valuable acquaintances drop off one after another. Captain Kater has lost his wife, the fine singer; Mrs. Parry; Lady Harcourt; your dear mother, are gone—the latter three of my own age, and I must hold out!

TO LADY HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, _August 1, 1833_.

* * * * *

I have now the pleasure of thanking my nephew for his valuable book of astronomy, having actually received it by yesterday’s post, and by a kind letter from Professor Schumacher. I learn that I may yet hope to see the promised Catalogue of nebulæ and double stars, to the perusal of which I look forward as a solace during the time you will be on your way _far, far_ from us. But these treasures cause me no little thinking about in whose hands I shall leave them when I cannot see them any longer, but cannot think of anyone I should like to leave them in preference to the Duke of Cambridge.

I cannot find words which would express sufficient thanks to my dear nephew for his last letter, every line of which conveys a comfort.

* * * * *

P.S.—Dear Nephew, as soon as your instrument is erected I wish you would see if there was not something remarkable in the lower part of the Scorpion to be found, for I remember your father returned several nights and years to the same spot, but could not satisfy himself about the uncommon appearance of that part of the heavens. It was something more than a total absence of stars (I believe). But you will have seen by the register that those lower parts could only be marked _half swept_. I wish you health and good success to all you undertake, and a happy return to a peaceful home in old England. God bless you all!

[Sidenote: 1833. _Retrospection._]

TO THE SAME.

_Sept. 6, 1833._

MY DEAR NIECE,—

Eight days are already gone since the arrival of your dear letter of August 21st, and I can hardly muster up composure enough at this moment to reply to it, because my ideas are still, what they ever have been, more occupied with future or past events than what passes immediately about me. At present my thoughts are wholly fixed on the busy scenes with which you are at present surrounded, and regretting that I am not with you to afford you any assistance, or to take charge of my nephew’s workshops, as I used to do of his father’s when absent; or that it is not possible to shake off some thirty years from my shoulders that I might accompany you on your voyage.

In answer to your query about my nephew’s building a grotto of coals I must plead ignorance, but have no doubt many an edifice of that kind has daily been erected and erased without my being present, for my dear nephew was only in his sixth year when I came to be detached from the family circle. But this did not hinder _John_ and _I_ from remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole holiday he was allowed to spend with me, was dedicated to making experiments in chemistry, where generally all boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-boxes, teacups, &c., served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished the matter to be analysed. I only had to take care to exclude water, which would have produced havoc on my carpet. And for his first notion of building I believe he is indebted to me, for it was on his second or third birthday when I lifted him in the trenches to lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added to the original house at Slough. It must have been the second year of his age, for I remember I was obliged to use a deal of coaxing to make him part with the money he was to lay on the brick.

About the same time, when one day I was sitting beside him, listening to his prattle, my attention was drawn by his hammering to see what he might be about, and found that it was the continuation of many days’ labour, and that the ground about the corner of the house was undermined, the corner-stone entirely away, and he was hard at work going on with the next. I gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, came running, crying out, “God bless the boy, if he is not going to pull the house down!” (Our John was this man’s pet, he taught him to handle the tools). A bricklayer came directly with brick and mortar to mend the damage.

I was called to my solitary dinner just when I was going to give you a few specimens of my nephew’s poetry; I have some by me, composed when about eight or nine years old, in a most shocking handwriting; but generally about this time I am so sleepy that I think it will be best to give you the continuation in a posthumous letter from C. H. to Lady M. B. Herschel, to be delivered to her on her return from the Cape....

If I only live long enough to have the assurance of your _all_ being well and safely got to the Cape, I will lay down my head in peace.

My paper is not filled, but there is not time for writing more, nor do I like to think about the present; but about a month ago I began a day-book again, which I was in the habit of keeping when in England, and with the contents of that I intend to fill my posthumous letter to you.

God bless you, my dear niece ... and with my love to my dear nephew and yourself,

I remain, Your most affectionate aunt, CAR. HERSCHEL.

[Sidenote: 1833. _To Professor Schumacher._]

TO PROFESSOR SCHUMACHER.

_Dec. 11, 1833._

DEAR SIR,—

By recollecting your former obliging kindness to me, I am encouraged once more to intrude on your valuable time by transcribing part of my nephew’s last letter, dated from Portsmouth, November 10th:—“The last proof sheet of my nebulæ paper left my hands the night I left London, and yesterday I got twelve copies to take to the Cape. One will be forwarded to you to-morrow by Lieut. Stratford, R.N., superintendent of the “Nautical Almanac,” who will send it to Prof. Schumacher, to whom, if you do not soon get it, pray write. I have also ordered a duplicate to be sent you by Mr. Hudson, assistant secretary of the Royal Society, and librarian, who will henceforward send you all my papers (in duplicate). My observations on the satellites of Uranus, which confirm my brother’s results, were sent to be put in course of publication last night.”

I have no doubt but that you, Sir, are in correspondence with the above named, but to me unknown, gentlemen, and that those two copies intended for me are only enclosed in a packet with many for yourself.

I long much to see the observations on the Georgian satellites, but doubt their being ready to come with the paper on nebulæ. I beg you will order them to be forwarded to me as soon as you see them yourselves, for I do not flatter myself with the hopes of being much longer for this world, but will be thankful if life is spared me till the end of April, when I hope to receive the assurance of my nephew’s safe arrival with his dear family at the Cape.

Excuse my troubling you so far, and believe me with great regard, dear Sir,

Your much obliged and humble servant, C. HERSCHEL.